Copeland family's marina in Mandeville a wasteland

Ellis Lucia / The Times-PicayuneMuch of the boardwalk at the marina in Mariners Village is torn apart. Residents near the marina have asked Mandeville officials for help in getting the Copeland family to clean up the area.

When Michael Pulaski moved to Mariner's Village in Mandeville in 2002, his marina-front condominium at the foot of the Causeway bridge was a piece of maritime paradise.

From his balcony, Pulaski had a sweeping view of Lake Pontchartrain. Boats passed his window on their way to and from the open water. And living right on the marina, Pulaski could pop over to his slip, fetch his boat and be on the lake within minutes.

Since then, the marina -- once owned by fried chicken magnate Al Copeland and now owned by his descendants -- has deteriorated so much that Pulaski has resorted to storing his boat at another site miles away. The channel leading to the lake is so heavily silted that the only way to get a boat out is by attaching a rope to it and pulling it through the muddy water.

The impassable waters are only one sign of decline on a property residents accuse the Copelands of barely maintaining for almost a decade. The 15-acre site where the elder Copeland once hoped to build his family compound now overlooks a marina filled with the masts of sunken boats and crumpled wooden docks missing most of their planks.

"When you come across the bridge and the first thing you see is a trashed-out marina, what does that say?" said Pulaski, who is president of the Mariners Island Condominium Association.

Promises, plans

Copeland representatives have promised to clean up the worst of the mess by the beginning of September. But condo residents, who have been pushing for action for years, fear that even if that is done, the Copeland family will not follow through on plans to dredge the channel and eventually rebuild the marina into the first-class facility it once was.

"The resolution to this is for them to recognize that their negligence has caused extensive damage to the property," said Dan Zellner, vice president of the Tops'L Condominium Association. "We want it to be fixed, and we want it to be safe."

Zellner and other condo residents have enlisted the help of Mandeville city officials, who have been negotiating with the Copelands since at least 2001 to move forward with the cleanup and come up with a plan for redeveloping the site.

Mayor Eddie Price called the condition of the marina "a travesty." But he is willing to give Al Copeland Jr. a chance to be more accommodating than his father.

"Let's give the guy an opportunity. There's a new face in the game," Price said. "At the same time, let's sit down and talk about our next game plan for the marina. The first step is to clean it up. The second step is a master plan."

Family compound

Bad blood between the Copeland family and the city runs deep. In 1995, facing strong opposition from residents, the Mandeville City Council thwarted Al Copeland Sr.'s plans for a 30,000-square-foot mansion on a spit of land next to the marina that is still owned by a family-controlled entity.

The compound would have included stables and a helicopter pad and would have played host to Copeland's Christmas lights extravaganza.

Several years later, the council approved a second proposal for a scaled-down compound but coupled that go-ahead with an ordinance restricting holiday light displays. Copeland never followed through with the plans, instead buying a house in the Brady Island subdivision near Madisonville for his north shore headquarters.

Ellis Lucia / The Times-PicayuneMichael Pulaski, a resident of Mariners Village, has moved his boat out of the rundown marina. When you come across the bridge and the first thing you see is a trashed-out marina, what does that say? said Pulaski, who is president of the Mariners Island Condominium Association.

Condominium residents say the marina's decline began before Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But that storm, along with Rita and then Gustav, caused some of the most obvious damage, including the sunken boats and the broken docks.

Bulkheads have also fallen into disrepair, leaving the land vulnerable to waves and debris. Some parts of the shoreline are being reclaimed by the lake, while others are pocked with waist-deep holes. Many of the boats moored at the marina, except for those small enough to be pulled through the shallow, muddy channel by human musclepower, never see open water.

Jeff Schoen, an attorney for the Copeland family, said the first step is to remove the debris clogging the marina. Then, the owners plan to dredge the bottom before working with the city and the public to develop a long-range plan.

A jetty across the mouth of the channel, possibly built with public money, probably would be necessary to prevent silting from occurring again and allow larger boats to access the marina, Schoen said.

"We understand that not only the Copeland interests but the people who live in Mariner's Village and the city would like to see a productive and viable marina," Schoen said.

Councilwoman Trilby Lenfant, who is involved in the talks, said the city will continue to put pressure on the Copelands until the marina is fixed.

"That piece of property is too valuable to us as a city," Lenfant said. "It represents what we are. We are a coastal community, and we should take care of our coastal property."

Cindy Chang can be reached at cchang@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4816.